


Frozen

by radioactivefish



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Cold, F/M, Fluff, Hypothermia, but they don't, casefile sort of, everyone will be fine don't worry, i know my summary makes it sound like they'll have sex, this is completely g rated warming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-23
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2019-03-08 09:59:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13455867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radioactivefish/pseuds/radioactivefish
Summary: When Mulder and Scully go north for a case, Scully ends up colder than she ever intended, and Mulder is happy to help warm her up.





	Frozen

“Mulder, I can’t believe I let you talk me into this!” Scully said, clearly upset.

  
They were in a forest in northern Minnesota investigating several reports of a large creature that was stealing food and trying to get into houses. Many of the residents would find large scratch marks on their doors after the creature had gone. Mulder thought it looked like a cross between a bear and Bigfoot. They wouldn’t normally go and investigate somewhere so cold in January, but the frequency of calls to the local police department had increased in the past couple of weeks.

  
“Are you even listening to me?” she asked, clearly getting more upset with him the more he ignored her.  
He slowly looked up from his map and compass, looked her in the eyes, and just shrugged, turning back to his map. Scully lightly punched him in the arm, but she’s not too sure that he even felt it with all of his layers.

“Seriously, Mulder, are we almost there? It’s snowing out, and the sun is starting to set. Can’t we come back in the morning?” She began pleading with him. Her legs were starting to lose their feeling, her nose would not stop running, and she was pretty sure that someone could have pierced her ears and she wouldn’t have even known.

“Relax, Scully,” Mulder said with a grin, “This is the spot. This is the only spot where the witnesses have seen the creature disappear.” He seemed normal… Was the cold even affecting him?

“Well, what are we looking for?” Scully said, starting to shiver.

“Scratches on the trees that look like they could have been made by something as large as a bear, or any place that the creature could be hiding, such as a cave.”

“Mulder, have you ever entertained the idea that this could simply be a bipedal bear? Bears can walk on their two hind legs after trauma.”

“Scully, you’ve seen the pictures. This doesn’t look like a normal bear!”

“We’ve had this discussion, Mulder! It could look the way it does because of the same trauma that causes it to walk on its back legs!”

“Come on, Scully, just help me look around for a little bit. We can go back to the motel soon. I promise.”

“All right. But 5 more minutes and then I’m going back to the car.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

“Just don’t let that bright blue coat of yours scare it away.” With this, he turned, chuckling, and began to look around.

After a few minutes, they had not gathered any new evidence, and Scully was getting irritated. She was shivering uncontrollably now, her teeth chattering, and knew that she had to get out of the cold.

“M-M-Mulder, I’m g-going to the c-c-car n-now.” She stuttered out.

“Scully, are you okay?” he asked, putting his hands on her shoulders.

“I’ll b-b-be f-fine.”

She shrugged out of his grasp and began walking back the way that they had come. The wind had picked up, and it was obscuring her tracks in the snow.

 _This is the right way, isn’t it?_ Scully thought to herself. _I’m pretty sure we came from the east, so I just have to follow the shadows since the sun is setting._ Lost in her own thoughts, she didn’t realize exactly where she had gone, and when she looked up, she realized she wasn’t exactly sure where she was. She looked back from where she came, and decided to continue in her current direction as that seemed as good as any other. Her arms were curled around herself and her chin was against her chest to conserve warmth. She was just watching where she planted her feet, trying to follow her own shadow back to the east and the warmth of the rental car.

_I should have stayed with Mulder. Or taken his compass._

As she was walking, she heard a light cracking sound. She stopped immediately, and hoped dearly that the source was a branch or stick of some sort. She turned in a few small circles, desperately trying to find the source of the cracking sound. She realized that there were no more trees around, and that she was most likely over a body of water. She had been so preoccupied with keeping herself moving that she didn't notice the trees disappearing as she walked out on a lake. She knew immediately that she needed to go back the way that she came, or she would fall through the ice.

As she turned around, she realized that the blowing wind had already obscured her footprints, and she couldn’t exactly follow her shadow that was behind her. She tried to decide which way she had come, but she wasn’t completely sure. She just started walking. She must have been a little bit off, as the ice groaned under her careful steps. Had she been this close to the center the first time? She wished she had been paying more attention to her surroundings rather than the ground. She changed her trajectory just a little bit, hoping to bring her closer to the solid ice she knew had to be close.

As soon as she took that first step, she knew she had made a mistake. Her other foot was in front of her, and she gently picked it up and started to slide it back to the safer ice behind her. But while all her weight was on one foot, the ice gave up, and sent her down into the murky depths of the lake.

_COLDCOLDCOLDCOLD. It’s so cold! I can’t breathe!_

As Scully was submerged in the icy water, it felt like she had been hit by a truck. She suddenly had no air in her lungs, and everything hurt. It felt almost like there were icy hands gripping her arms and legs, pulling her further down into the darkness below. She desperately kicked her legs, clawing for the surface, finding only solid ice. After what felt like 3 hours, but was no more than a couple of minutes, she found the hole that she had fallen through. With her vision darkening around the edges, she summoned her remaining energy and pulled her head out of the water.

She came up with a loud gasp. She knew the temperature had not changed in the last couple of minutes, but the air felt amazingly warm on her skin as she surfaced. She began whispering prayers of thanks as she slowly kicked her legs and crawled out of the hole, careful to not to put too much weight on one spot. Slowly, gingerly, she stood up on a patch of ice that did not feel weak, and thankfully, it held her. She began to walk back to the trees, hoping that Mulder was still in the forest looking, and had not yet returned to the car.

She willed herself to move, even though her legs had long since turned numb. She was so tired, but a small part of her brain told her that if she went to sleep out here, she probably wouldn’t wake up. She heard it, but her knees buckled and she decided to lay down and rest for just a moment.

 _I’ll get right back up_ ; she said to herself, _I just need a minute._

As she lay down in the snow, she could feel herself relax. But as she tried to move around, she couldn’t force her muscles to contract. She couldn’t even force her eyes to open. She tried to keep herself conscious by thinking about all the cases that she had worked on during her time at the FBI - with Mulder. That thought sent a pang of guilt through her heart. He would, of course, be the one to find her out here.  
_Mulder… I’m so sorry._  
With this last thought, she gave herself up into the warm, inviting blackness.

\-----------------------------------------

Mulder wasn’t sure how long it had been since Scully left, but she had to be freezing. He had started to get cold, so she had to be about frozen solid if she hadn’t already made it to the car. Since he had not found any signs of his Bigfoot, he decided to call it quits and head back for the day. He followed his compass nearly all the way back to the rental car, and that’s when fear struck him. It was still covered in snow. No one had been in it, and the heat had not been on since the last time he was there. He knew that she had not simply stopped to check something out. She was in trouble. He immediately turned on his heels and began running back into the forest.

“SCULLY!” He began to yell while running. “Scully can you hear me? Are you alright? Scully!”

He went running blindly off toward where they had been before, hoping that she had only veered off course a little bit and he would find her, just confused and lost. That’s when he remembered. There was a lake not too far from where he and Scully had been looking earlier. He picked up his speed, running as fast as he could in the large snow drifts. Then he saw it. A large hole in the ice. It looked like someone had fallen in.

Please don’t be in here, please don’t be in here was a phrase he was repeating like a mantra as he wiggled his way onto the ice, careful not to break it any more. He gathered his courage to look in the small, dark hole, where he found… nothing. He was simultaneously relieved and worried. If this had indeed been where she fell in, where was she now? Had she gotten out? Or had she ended up farther under the ice?

Mulder couldn’t let himself dwell on that last thought. She was out. He wasn’t sure where she was, but he hoped with all of his heart that she had gotten herself out. He began to head back to the spot where they had been originally, and that’s when he saw it. A small, bright blue bundle tucked away in the snow. He sprinted towards it, and that’s when he knew it was indeed Scully, and she had definitely fallen through the ice.

Her face was a very pale pink, and her lips were a light shade of purple. Her eye sockets had also taken on a more purple tone. As he looked at her in that moment, he was infinitely grateful that he could see the small puff of steam come from her mouth every few seconds. She wasn’t dead; she was breathing. Mulder knew he had to get her out of here, get her someplace warm. He gingerly picked her up, one arm supporting her head and shoulders, and the other supporting her legs just under her knees. He began to go back toward the car as fast as he could, and hoped he could make it before she got any worse.

\------------------------------------------------------

Scully felt herself being pulled from the darkness, and the light hurt. She could feel the cold like tiny needles poking her all over. She tried to open her eyes, but found that the solid white of the landscape hurt her more than the cold on her body. She then realized that she was being jostled. Was someone shaking her? She tentatively opened her eyes again, and after she saw the light of the snow, she saw a face.

The face turned down and looked at her, and it was smiling.

“Hey there,” it said quietly, “I wasn’t sure I’d see those pretty blue eyes again, Scully.”

It was Mulder. Of course. She tried to open her mouth to speak to him, but nothing came out.

“Hey hey hey, don’t worry about talking. We’ll be back to the car very soon, okay?”

The most she could muster was a small smile as she closed her eyes again. She could feel herself relaxing as she edged toward the darkness once more. Just when she thought she could feel its blessed warmth, she heard yelling. She reluctantly opened one eye, and it was Mulder that had been shouting. But his face looked concerned, not angry or upset. She must have looked confused, because he started talking to her again.

“I don’t mean to startle you,” he started, “but you have to stay awake as long as you can. I’m no doctor,” he chuckled at this, “but I know that once someone stops shivering, it’s getting bad. You haven’t shivered since I found you. I’m just afraid that if you go to sleep,” his voice cracked, “I’ll never see those blue eyes of yours again.”

She mulled this over as they got to the car and she was placed in the front seat. Mulder gingerly fastened her seat belt and went to pull the emergency blanket out of the trunk. He put that and his coat on top of her, and turned the heat on full as he sped back to the motel.

\--------------------------------------

Mulder pulled into the motel parking lot, and ran to the front office before going to their rooms. He asked for a couple of extra blankets, and they were given to him without question. He went to his room and stripped all but one of the blankets off of the bed, turned the heat on full, and went back to the car to get Scully. She had lost consciousness again. He brought her into his room and began to take the wet clothes off of her. She had been wearing 3 layers, but even that was not enough to keep her safe from the frigid cold. He dressed her again with a thermal shirt and sweatpants, and then began to bundle her in the blankets.

He’d seen this technique used before in victims of hypothermia. You take a few blankets below them, a few above them, and then wrap them up like baby. As he started to put the top layer of blankets on, he realized that her hair was still wet. He ran to the bathroom and got a towel and tried to wrap her hair as best he could.

 _It might not look great, but at least it won’t be cooling her down_ , he thought to himself.

Now was the worst part. He had to wait. Her temperature needed to come back up, and there wasn’t much more that he could do since she wasn’t yet conscious. It had only been a couple of minutes before he heard her breathing change, signaling she was no longer asleep. He rushed to her side and was met with her blue eyes.

“Hey. How are you feeling, Scully?”

Her response came out as a whisper: “Cold.”

“Now that you’re awake, I’m going to run a hot bath to help warm you up. Just stay there for now, okay?”

She nodded her head and wiggled inside the blankets, trying to bury herself further inside of them. Mulder went and began to run a bath, silently thanking whoever was listening that this motel room had a bathtub, and not just a shower. He started the water at a lukewarm temperature, and only filled it up about a third of the way. He didn’t want to shock her, after all she had already been through. He would fill it up with warmer water once she had grown accustomed to this temperature. As he went back to the room, he called out that the bath was ready - for now.

“You’re still with me, right Scully?” he called to the bundle of blankets on the bed.

A muffled “Mmmm” was her only response, but it was enough. He began peeling the layers off of her, and saw that she had started shivering. He had her sit up on the edge of the bed and took the wet towel from her head.

“Can you make it to the bath by yourself?”

A deep nod told him that she was at least partially back to her old self - stubborn. She stood up slowly, Mulder never taking his hand off of her back. He was glad he did this, too, because as soon as she stood up, her knees gave out and she was headed straight for the floor. He sat her back on the bed.

“Okay, new tactic. Can you take off your clothes by yourself in the bathroom, or do you need help?”

Much to her surprise, his tone was calm and kind, much like a parent to a child, and not at all condescending. She could feel her joints stiffen as the blood flowed back into them, and she was pretty sure that she couldn’t do it without help. Especially considering she was shaking more by the minute.

Her eyes were glued to the floor when it came out in a mumble: “Help m-me, p-p-please.”

“I just have one more question, okay? Are you able to be in the bath by yourself or--”

He was cut off by her abrupt response: “Stay w-with m-me.”

This was the first time since she had almost fallen that she lifted her eyes above the ground. Mulder could see the pang of fear in her eyes, and he knew that she was afraid that it had gone too far. He smiled at her, reassuring her that it would not be a problem. He took off his shirt and began to gently undress Scully; as soon as the shirt was taken off of her shoulders, she started shaking even harder. Once she was undressed and he was wearing only his thermal pants, he picked her up and carried her to the tub. He got in and sat down, gently lowering her into the lukewarm bath water. Her icy skin hit the water and she let out a yelp. She looked as though she was trying to climb inside of Mulder, just to avoid the water.

“Scully! I know it’s really hot to you, but it’s good for you. It’ll get better. I promise.”

Once she was completely sitting in the bathtub, Mulder pulled her close, having her sit in between his legs with her back against his abdomen. After a few more minutes, the shaking started to subside, so he turned on the tap once again, filling the tub with warmer water. When about half an hour had passed, Scully no longer felt like ice. She seemed more relaxed, and Mulder knew that was a good sign. He gently got out from behind her and went to get some fresh clothes for both of them. He went back to the bathroom and helped her get out and get dressed. With fresh clothes, she padded to the bed and curled up under two of the blankets, leaving the others piled high on the other side.

When Mulder had gotten changed, he drained the tub and came back to find Scully almost asleep in his bed.

“Scully. This is my room,” he chuckled, knowing that she could do whatever she wanted.

“But it’s so warm,” she responded sleepily.  
Mulder sighed and moved the extra blankets to the floor, settling himself in the extra space on the other side, staying as close to the edge as possible. He thought he could sleep like this pretty easily, until he heard a small voice from the other side of the bed.

“Come over here and keep me warm tonight.”

He smiled and rolled himself over until his chest was right against her back. He gently put one arm over her stomach, and she put her arm on his.

“Thank you, Mulder,” she said quietly, as though she might already be asleep.

“Any time.”

Within just a few minutes, the motel room was quiet, filled with only the sounds of steady breathing as they slept on, keeping each other warm through the night.


End file.
